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Article by Sue Sciortino
INTERPRETER OF MALADIES
Jhumpa Lahiri
INTRODUCTION
Lahiri’s Indian heritage forms the basis for her short stories; stories in which
she deals with questions of identity, alienation and the plight of those who are
culturally displaced. She vividly shows the estrangement and isolation that
often afflict first- and even second-generation immigrants. Although the
immigrant experience is central to her work, it is not her exclusive concern: in
the title story, she suggests, through her characters, that there are ‘maladies’
that trouble all of us. This contributes to our understanding of other people
and of ourselves.
Lahiri, like many Americans and Australians, is a second-generation
immigrant who feels just as much at home in her parents’ homeland as she
does in her own – yet she felt she belonged nowhere when she was young.
The psychological dislocation that immigrants often suffer can cause their
children to feel a similar sense of alienation. Although Lahiri’s parents
ultimately adjusted to living in America, they must have frequently longed for
their mother country, giving Lahiri the opportunity to observe, at first hand, the
often painful adjustment of immigrants to life in an adopted country. Her
narratives weave together not only the stories of immigrants, but also those of
their children, who feel that they belong neither in one place nor another.
Lahiri uses her acute powers of observation, together with her personal
experiences, to create stories that transport readers to an imaginary
landscape, exploring and exposing the frailties common to all of humanity.
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BRIEF SYNOPSIS
As the short story genre uses a wide variety of plot types, several strategies
must be employed to gain an overall picture of how different stories are
connected. Although each of Lahiri’s stories has its own self-contained plot
and characters, they are linked in ways that bind the collection together as a
complete entity.
To begin with, all Lahiri’s stories revolve around people who are either Indian
in India, Indian in the United States or Americans of Indian descent. Further,
the stories can be separated into distinct groupings and associations, based
on their relation to Indian culture. The first and most obvious group of stories
are the two that are set in India itself, and concern only Indians in India: ‘The
Treatment of Bibi Haldar’ and ‘A Real Durwan’. Here, Lahiri explores the
elements of Indian society that have not been muted or changed by
association with the outside world. Both of the main characters – Bibi Haldar
and Boori Ma – have characteristics and experiences that are peculiar to
Indian society, many of which could not exist elsewhere. These women are
both subject to the repressive mores of an Indian society that appears to
render them powerless.
It is useful to link these two stories with the only other story set in India, which
portrays an Indian man who comes into contact with an American family of
Indian descent. The title story, ‘An Interpreter of Maladies’, not only illustrates
the main theme uniting the stories, the ‘maladies’ that afflict Lahiri’s various
characters, but also bridges the geographic divide between the subcontinent
of India and continental North America. Mr Kapasi does not understand the
tourists in his taxi, who look Indian despite their foreign mannerisms and
behaviour. This immediate confusion points to one of Lahiri’s major themes –
that of disjunction between cultures. Through this story, Lahiri is able to
deepen the connection between her narratives.
Another grouping concerns first-generation Indians who are inevitably
alienated from American culture because they have left the land in which they
were born and raised. Mrs Sen, while still quite young, is made to seem old
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because she cannot adapt to life in America. She is a completely displaced
person who yearns only for India and makes no attempt to assimilate. In a
similar way, Mr Pirzada lives in America but is completely absorbed by what is
happening in the war in his homeland, where his wife and children still reside.
The largest grouping of stories centres on marriage and relationships,
particularly the arranged marriages that underpin Indian society. ‘A Temporary
Matter’, ‘Sexy’, ‘This Blessed House’ and ‘The Third and Final Continent’,
while also portraying memorable characters struggling to adapt to American
culture, dwell on the intricacies of marriage and the difficulties that all
individuals have in adapting to life as a family.
BACKGROUND & CONTEXT
Jhumpa Lahiri is of Indian descent; both her parents were born in India. She
was born in London but grew up in Rhode Island, a state on the east coast of
the United States. From childhood, she often accompanied her parents back
to India – particularly to Calcutta (now known as Kolkata), the third-largest city
in India, located in the state of West Bengal, close to India’s eastern border
with Bangladesh. Her father worked as a librarian and her mother remained a
traditional Indian wife, maintaining the customs of her youth.
Lahiri began writing at age seven, co-writing stories with her best friend in
primary school. She abandoned writing fiction as an adolescent, and lacked
the confidence to resume the pursuit during her university years. While
employed as a researcher, she found the stimulus to resume writing fiction
and, after achieving a PhD in Renaissance Studies at Boston University,
turned once again to creative writing. With a string of degrees behind her, she
decided that the life of a scholar was less interesting than that of a fiction
writer, and began seriously submitting stories for publication.
After being published in prestigious magazines such as The New Yorker,
Lahiri was awarded the highest literary honour in the United States, the
Pulitzer Prize for Literature, in 2000. Since then, she has been awarded many
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other prizes, including the O. Henry Award for short stories. In 2003, she
wrote the novel The Namesake, which was made into a movie in 2006. In
2008, a second collection of short stories, Unaccustomed Earth, was
published. Lahiri lives in New York City with her husband and two children.
STRUCTURE, LANGUAGE & STYLE
The short story genre
The modern short story is often concerned with making an emotional impact.
Writers like Lahiri do not always observe the traditional elements of narrative
fiction, such as the inclusion of an introduction, rising action, a climax, falling
action and an ending that ties the work together. Her work often features
subtle endings that are left open to interpretation, such as that of ‘A
Temporary Matter’, which has two possible resolutions (see ‘Different
Interpretations’ below).
A short story should be able to be read in a single sitting. This gives the piece
unity by focusing on one isolated incident in the life of a character, or on one
character’s relationship with another or others. An atmosphere is created in
which the characters live and function and this, in turn, evokes an emotional
response from the reader.
The action is an important element of the short story. Something must
happen, no matter how small. There must also be a narrative of some kind.
However, this narrative is not generally as rigidly structured as a novel would
be.
Successful short stories usually contain several particular features. Unlike the
longer novel form, they must contain an idea that can be worked through
within a restricted word limit. Although this does not allow for the creation of
an extended psychological study of a character, let alone a number of
characters, it is surprising how much information can be conveyed to readers
about a character by using deft short phrases instead of extended description.
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Short story structure
The short story’s internal structure determines the significance of both its
technical and artistic elements, such as themes, symbols and images.
The introduction must immediately draw the reader in and pique their
interest by establishing the emotional tone of the narrative, setting the scene,
creating the atmosphere and locating the characters in a specific time and
place. One of the most prominent features of Lahiri’s stories is her short, to-
the-point opening sentences, which immediately introduce information that is
crucial to the rest of the narrative. Take the opening to ‘A Temporary Matter’,
for example – ‘The notice informed them that it was a temporary matter’ (p.1).
While this immediately prompts the question of what this ‘temporary matter is
– in this case, the electricity being cut off – it also clues us into the wider issue
of the estrangement that exists between the married couple Shoba and
Shukumar.
The body of the story is where the ‘plot’ of the story unfolds. Short stories
require an organising principle; for example, all of Lahiri’s characters are
Indian, or of Indian extraction, and thus share similar concerns and values.
Many of Lahiri’s plot lines seem trivial, such as the story ‘This Blessed House’,
about Twinkle’s preoccupation with the Christian artefacts left behind by their
house’s previous owners – an interest which her husband Sanjeev finds
annoying. More important, though, is the way that the discovery of each relic
sheds new light on the marriage of these seemingly incompatible characters.
A deft development of character and plot is central to the short story, and is
focused on the conflict around which the story is based. This conflict could be
between characters, between characters and their society, or within the
psyche of the main character. ‘Mrs Sen’s’, for example, concerns an Indian
woman who is unable to assimilate into her adopted country, in contrast to her
more socially adept husband. Her friendship with an American boy becomes
an opportunity for each to experience the other’s alternative culture.
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The climax results from the convergence of the separate elements in the
story, and the ending generally comes from the falling action after the climax.
Lahiri’s endings are highly varied: they can often be abrupt, can be either
positive or negative, and are often tangential or ambiguous. ‘The Treatment of
Bibi Haldar’, for example, ends with a sense of the mystical because the main
character has a baby without ever, to our knowledge, having any association
with the opposite sex even though she desires marriage above all things.
Equally magically, the pregnancy cures her of epilepsy. Lahiri’s endings do
not necessarily round off the story neatly. Instead, they encourage us to
contemplate the ordinary lives of others and, by doing so, provide us with a
possible moment of insight or revelation about our own lives.
The significance of titles
Titles are important in any text, but Lahiri’s carefully-chosen titles often
provide clues as to the stories’ content, as well as important information about
character; they can also lead directly to the substance of the narrative. The
title ‘Sexy’, for example, keys us into a character’s fundamental
misunderstanding of the precise meaning of this word, while ‘A Temporary
Matter’ refers to the event that sets the central plot in motion.
Language and narrative point of view
Lahiri’s precise and spare prose is stripped of any florid phrases, and the
adjectives and adverbs provide specific details rather than merely
embellishing her writing. She has said that ‘I just want to get it less – get it
plainer. When I rework things I try to get it as simple as I can’ (Chotiner 2008,
p.3). While the language in this short story collection is functional, it still
creates a sense of beauty and wholeness.
For most of her stories, Lahiri has chosen a third-person omniscient narrative
structure. In this way, she can present her characters from an outsider’s point
of view. For ‘When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine’ and the closing story, however,
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the first-person narrative voice lends immediacy to the poignancy of the
speakers’ experiences.
CHARACTERS & RELATIONSHIPS
Lahiri builds her characters around the immigrant experience and the cultural
divide between America and India. At the same time she paints, with
sympathy and understanding, indelible characters who experience the pain
and suffering of ordinary people.
In the title story, ‘Interpreter of Maladies’ (pp.43–69), Mr Kapasi is a
character who signifies the deep divide between the culture of American-born
Indians and that of Indians living in India. As the Das family’s tourist guide, he
is constantly bemused by the fact that these people ‘looked Indian but
dressed as foreigners did’ (pp.43–4). To him, they each seem completely self-
absorbed: far more ‘like siblings’ (p.49) than parents and children. The couple
also appears to be emotionally unaffected by the reality of India, particularly
the grim conditions under which many are forced to live. Mr Das stops to take
a photo ‘of a barefoot man, his head wrapped in a dirty turban’ (p.49) –
treating him as if he is there merely to add local colour to his travels, rather
than as a human being in his own right. Mrs Das is completely indifferent to
the whole tourist experience, only becoming interested when Mr Kapasi
begins to tell her about his other line of work.
Mr Kapasi’s main occupation is as a language interpreter for a doctor. Mrs
Das views the dependence of the patients on him as ‘romantic’ (p.50) and is
suddenly interested in Kapasi as a man, rather than just as a dispensable
Indian guide. She unexpectedly provides Kapasi with a different view of
himself as someone worthwhile, whereas he is only considered a lowly worker
in his everyday life. Kapasi sees his occupation as ‘thankless’, whereas Mr
and Mrs Das see him as bearing a great ‘responsibility’ (p.51). For him ‘the
job was a sign of his failings’ (p.52), as it underlined his lost dream of
becoming an indispensable interpreter to diplomats. Kapasi’s job is simply the
means by which he sustains his family and, notably, has recently become a
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symbol of his wife’s reproach for his inability to save his son from dying: ‘she
resented the other lives he helped … to save’ (p.53).
He begins to see that human behaviour is the same in all cultures. Mr and Mrs
Das are no more suited to each other than he and his wife are. He recognises
the signs of a dysfunctional marriage – ‘the bickering, the indifference, the
protracted silences (p.53) – and is flattered by Mrs Das’ attention. While in
conversation with Mrs Das, Kapasi begins to see her as a sexual being on his
own level, rather than simply a tourist; he is charmed when she includes him
in their picnic. Her offer to send him some photographs encourages him to
anticipate some extension of their relationship: ‘she would write to him … and
he would respond eloquently’ (p.55). For him, there was a sense of promise
‘that all of life’s mistakes made sense in the end’ (p.56). His hopes are fuelled
further when Mrs Das displays her interest in the sensuality of the carved
figures at Konarak temple.
Alas, Kapasi is merely fantasising that Mrs Das’ polite interest indicates
something deeper. His attempt to prolong their tour only prompts an unwanted
admission from Mrs Das that her son is not her husband’s. He is dismayed to
find that she thinks of him ‘as a parent’ rather than a potential partner, and
that she has only felt comfortable in confessing to him because of his ‘talents’
(p.65) as an interpreter. Each person has seen the other as a kind of saviour,
only to be disappointed. Kapasi feels ‘insulted’ at being used by Mrs Das,
while Mrs Das realises that he is merely an unimportant tour guide after all,
irrelevant to her family.
The character of Kapasi, then, demonstrates that human misunderstandings,
and not merely cultural divides, can lead to misinterpretation. As the ‘slip of
paper’ (p.69) on which he has written his address floats away, he is reminded
of the harsh truth that life is full of missed opportunities.
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Children as key characters
Children are crucial to the action of a number of Lahiri’s stories. They serve to
illuminate adult characters while, at the same time, they have a definitive role
as individuals.
In ‘Mrs Sen’s’ (pp.111–35) the boy, Eliot, functions as a foil to demonstrate
Mrs Sen’s inability to assimilate into American culture. Although Mrs Sen
dominates the story, Eliot becomes a figure who not only illustrates the
balance between the cultures, but also develops as a character who grows
through experiencing other customs. Eliot is an eleven-year-old white
American boy; while Mrs. Sen, the next in a line of Eliot’s after school ‘baby-
sitters’ (p.111), is hired because she is a ‘Professor’s wife, responsible and
kind’ (p.111). She is, of course, much more than this – as Eliot is soon to find
out. She is a traditional Indian wife who feels isolated and lost in the
foreignness of American culture. We perceive Mrs Sen through the eyes of
Eliot, who notices the striking differences between the domestic life of these
Indian immigrants and his own. Through his thoughts, we are given detailed
descriptions of the Sens’ apartment, suggesting (although he is in no way
judgemental) that he perceives the family as strange. Indeed, his ability to
absorb and enjoy this alternative way of life becomes a rich learning
experience for him.
Eliot, in fact, compares the lushness of Mrs Sen and her beautiful attire – ‘she
wore a shimmering white sari patterned with orange paisleys’ – favourably
against his mother’s ‘cropped hair … her shaved knees and thighs too
exposed’ (pp.112–3). Unlike Eliot’s own home, Mrs Sen’s is welcoming and
her apartment is warm. He soon comes to look forward to watching her ‘as
she chopped things, seated on newspapers on the living room floor’ (p.114).
He is fascinated with the knife she uses, ‘curved like the prow of a Viking ship’
(p.114). But Mrs Sen is so alienated from her new life, and so starved for
company, that she allows Eliot to become her confidante. During this process,
he learns not only to accept another person’s culture, but also to shield Mrs
Sen from her fear of living in a world that is alien to her. Through her, Eliot
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comes to understand the anxiety that ensues from being cut off from one’s
family and friends, and the frustrations of being unable to prepare the food
that ties one to a particular culture.
After Mrs Sen’s car accident, Eliot is left at home as a ‘latch-key’ child and
feels, for the first time, the sterility of his own culture in contrast with the
richness of Mrs Sen’s. Both have benefited from their mutual association.
In contrast, the seven-year-old boy in ‘Sexy’ (pp.83–110) acts as a catalyst for
Miranda to realise that her relationship with the married Dev is neither
appropriate nor beneficial to her. She is swept into her liaison with Dev,
attracted by his difference and lured by his Indian heritage. Their story runs
parallel with that of Laxmi’s cousin, whose husband has absconded with
another woman whom ‘he sat next to … on a flight from Delhi to Montreal’
(p.83). His son, we learn from Miranda’s friend Laxmi, is very bright but badly
affected by his father’s dereliction of his family. When Miranda’s friend asks
her to look after him, she is startled by his perceptions. When the boy asks
Miranda to wear the special dress she has bought to wear with Dev, he
unexpectedly describes her as ‘sexy’ (p.107). We discover the depth of his
pain when he explains that being sexy ‘means loving someone you don’t
know’ (p.107). With this remark, he reveals how badly affected he has been
by his mother’s constant emotional outbursts and his father’s abandonment.
After thinking about the boy’s words, Miranda understands the significance of
the betrayal represented by her affair with Dev. The boy’s pain has made her
realise that ‘it wasn’t fair to her, or to his wife, that they both deserved better’
(p.110). The child’s experiences have pointed her towards the reality of the
emotional suffering inevitably involved in such a deceitful relationship.
The first-person speaker of ‘When Mr Pirzada Came to Dine’ (pp.23–42) is a
ten-year-old girl, Lilia, who finally comes to understand the pain caused by
separation from one’s family. Mr Pirzada is a Moslem Bangladeshi who is
trapped in America when the war of separation breaks out in western India.
Each evening he is asked to dine with Lilia’s family, who are Indian
immigrants. Lilia is caught between the traditions of her parents and American
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culture. She does not understand her parents’ complaints about the
unavailability of ingredients for Indian food, or their lament that neighbours
‘never dropped by without an invitation’ (p.24). Mr Pirzada is invited to their
house simply because he is Indian; or, as her father explains, ‘Mr Pirzada is
no longer considered Indian’ (p.25), something that ‘made no sense’ to Lilia
(p.25). Her mother understands that Lilia is American – ‘we live here now, she
was born here’ (p.26) – and has little understanding of the politics of India and
Pakistan. Yet, something still fascinates Lilia about her parents’ homeland.
Lilia perceives Mr Pirzada as somewhat exotic in his ‘ensembles of plums,
olives, and chocolate browns’ (p.27). His presence even makes her feel rather
‘like a stranger in [her] own home’ (p.29). Every evening he brings her sweets,
which she feels are ‘inappropriate … to consume’ (p.29), placing them in a
sandalwood box she inherited from a grandmother she ‘had never known’
(p.30); an indication of the empty space in her life created by her lack of
familial connections. It is through Mr Pirzada’s watch ‘set to the local time in
Dacca’ (p.30) that Lilia comes to realise that, while Mr Pirzada is physically
present in America, his experiences there are no more than ‘a lagging ghost
of where [he] really belonged’ (p.31) – with his family in Dacca.
Gradually Lilia, through her contact with Mr Pirzada, is brought to understand
the significance of other cultures and other people’s fight for independence.
Her colourless American history lessons seem unremarkable when set
against the history being created in the here and now, and the anticipation of
the ‘birth of a nation on the other side of the world’ (p.34).
Lahiri subtly uses the persona of Lilia to filter the cultural differences between
India/Pakistan and the reality of the American culture that Lilia is born into.
She dutifully learns the history of her birth country but is drawn inexorably
towards that of her parents. For Lilia, as war looms in East Pakistan, the
details remain ‘a remote mystery with haphazard clues’ (p.40) that she is
somehow excluded from; she knows only that Mr Pirzada and her parents
operated as ‘a single body’ with ‘a single fear’ (p.41). After the war, Mr
Pirzada returns home to his family, which has survived. He will never revisit
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America, but Lilia has learned through this stranger what it means ‘to miss
someone who was so many miles and hours away’ (p.42).
• What role do the children in the title story play?
• How does Lahiri use these child characters to underline the other
characterisations in the story?
• Through these child characters, certain truths are revealed to
readers about the adults, their relationships and the cultural divide
between Indian Americans and their American counterparts.
THEMES, IDEAS & VALUES
Tolerance
Lahiri sees tolerance as essential both to cultural harmony and within
relationships. Through ‘This Blessed House’ (pp.136–57), she explores both
the complications of an arranged marriage and the adjustments that must be
made to accommodate a couple’s disparate personalities within any
relationship.
Sanjeev obviously prefers his bachelor existence ‘when he would walk each
evening across the Mass. Avenue bridge’ (p.138) and need not consider
anyone else in his solitary evenings. He and Twinkle are completely
mismatched: he prefers an orderly existence, while Twinkle is lazy, slovenly
and careless of convention. Further, she was ‘excited and delighted by little
things … as if the world contained hidden wonders’ (p.142). These qualities
make Sanjeev ‘feel stupid’, because he does not understand her zest for life.
When Twinkle becomes obsessed with the Christian artefacts left behind by a
previous owner in their new house, Sanjeev becomes even more uptight
wondering what the ‘people from the office’ (p.139) will make of these
Christian symbols in a Hindu house. He hates the fact that Twinkle is
fascinated with them, but in the face of her refusal to abandon them he
concedes that he ‘will tolerate’ her ‘little biblical menagerie’ (p.139). This is a
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further sign that he will accommodate Twinkle’s excesses for the sake of
harmony. He continues to clear up after her, but their differences become
obvious when he plays Mahler’s Fifth Symphony as a romantic gesture only to
have Twinkle advise him that if he wants ‘to impress people’ he should not
‘play this music’ (p.140). The charms of the ‘tender fourth movement’ (p.140)
are completely lost on Twinkle.
The couple had met ‘only four months before’ (p.142), and were brought
together by the wishes of their parents. This is the situation at the heart of
their story, for their obvious differences soon become apparent: Sanjeev is the
son of parents who live in Calcutta, while Twinkle is a second-generation
American. This basic cultural difference is a further obstacle to their
establishment of a successful relationship. Sanjeev had been lonely in
America and Twinkle had recently been abandoned by an American man.
Brought together by the parents, they believed they had some things in
common such as a ‘persistent fondness for Wodehouse novels’ (p.143). With
this comment, Lahiri shows her sense of the absurd. To make a marriage
work, especially from culturally diverse backgrounds, she shows that a great
deal of adjustment and compromise must take place on both sides, and also
that tolerance extends beyond a mere shared passion for an author.
Twinkle is not interested in the complications of Indian cookery which, she
complained, ‘was a bother’ (p.144), preferring a more American style of food.
Sanjeev’s admission that her cooking is ‘unusually tasty’ (p.144) suggests that
he is prepared to tolerate her differences. Twinkle, for her part, tolerates
Sanjeev’s fussiness and, happy that she has salvaged the Christian artefacts,
declares ‘this house is blessed’ (p.144).
Sanjeev does not know if he loves Twinkle, although he has chosen her
above all the other Indian brides that were suggested to him. He is clearly
mesmerised by her, but ‘did not know what love was, only what he thought it
was not’ (p.147). In Twinkle, he asks himself, ‘what was there not to love?’
(p.148). The tension between the two reaches its peak when Sanjeev
threatens to take the statue of the Virgin to ‘the dump’ (p.148). For the first
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time, Twinkle shows her passion: they argue until Sanjeev notices that she is
crying. Her ‘sadness’ provokes a protective reaction from him, and ‘in the end
they settled on a compromise’ (p.149).
Sanjeev is humbled both by Twinkle’s love for him and by the respect shown
toward him by his friends and colleagues. His irritation at Twinkle and the
feelings that overwhelm him are finally dissipated by the ‘pang of anticipation’
(p.155) he feels at the sight of Twinkle’s shoes. Although he does not share
Twinkle’s taste in Christian paraphernalia, he knows that they will be together
for the ‘rest of their days’ (p.157). He loves her because she is unique, and
their relationship will be cemented because of their ability to compromise.
Lahiri shows that in any relationship the two people must be able to learn to
tolerate each other’s differences. This is even more so in an arranged
marriage, where the couple must develop mutual love and respect. Through
describing Twinkle’s taste for Christian artefacts, Lahiri implies that Sanjeev
also must develop a more tolerant attitude toward his new culture if he is to
adapt successfully. As Sanjeev’s character shows, the immigrant experience
is often painful and the adjustments frequently overwhelming.
Compassion
Many of Lahiri’s stories feature an underlying pattern of human compassion:
• Shoba and Shukumar eventually develop mutual compassion in ‘A
Temporary Matter’.
• Lilia learns compassion through Mr Pirzada’s enforced separation
from his family (‘When Mr Pirzada Came to Dine’).
• Miranda learns to value herself through her feelings of
compassion for the boy Rohin (‘Sexy’).
• Eliot feels compassion for Mrs Sen although, in contrast, his
mother does not (‘Mrs Sen’s’).
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• The narrator, although he does not fully understand her, feels a
connection with Mrs Croft based on compassion (‘The Third and
Final Continent’).
Lack of communication leads to isolation
Lahiri points out that communication is essential, both for societies and for
individuals within society. Lack of communication and miscommunication
often lead her characters to feel emotionally isolated and to suffer from
cultural displacement. This is particularly true for immigrants who feel divided
between the customs of their homeland and those of their adopted society.
For Mrs Sen ‘everything is there’ (p.113) – that is, in India – and she cannot
assimilate to life in America. Although her Indian cooking practices function as
the obvious symbol of her lack of adjustment, her separation from her family is
at the heart of her alienation. She waits fretfully for the ‘blue aerogram’ (p.121)
that brings news from the family, an anxiety that Eliot finds ‘incomprehensible’
(p.121). Her alienation is heightened because she is unable to communicate
successfully even with her husband, as Mr Sen has not understood her
feelings of isolation and simply expects her to be able to cope alone. Her
failure to learn to drive is the motif through which Lahiri demonstrates Mrs
Sen’s ongoing sense of cultural displacement. After the accident, she
becomes even more isolated.
At the same time, though, Eliot’s mother is shown to be equally incapable of
communication. Her relationship with Eliot is distant and, in contrast with Mrs
Sen, without warmth or real affection. If food is a symbol of Mrs Sen’s
marginality, then Eliot’s mother’s isolation is shown through her failure to cook
for either of them, relying on pizza and bread and cheese (p.118). She
represents the failure of society to bridge the cultural divide through
communication and is uncomfortable around Mrs Sen, merely nibbling her
Indian ‘concoctions’ (p.118) without offering her any real sense of inclusion.
When their association ends, she is ‘relieved’ (p.135).
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• Mr Kapas, in ‘The Interpreter of Maladies’, is also the victim of
miscommunication (see above).
• Bibi Haldar, in ‘The Treatment of Bibi Haldar’, is isolated because
of her illness; she is unable to communicate her needs to those
around her because she is marginalised by society.
The search for identity is universal
Lahiri explores the idea that identity, especially for immigrants, is something
that must be sought. We gain a sense of identity through family, society and
culture. For the culturally displaced, this is a difficult endeavour.
The speaker in ‘The Third and Final Continent’ (pp.173–98) searches for his
identity across continents. He is born in Asia, travels to Europe to study, and
finally immigrates to North America. Although he has adapted to the British
way of life as a student, it is not a true cultural integration as he lives in a
‘house occupied entirely by penniless Bengali bachelors like [himself]’ (p.173).
He attempts to keep his cultural identity intact by keeping the most trivial of
Indian traditions alive, such as eating ‘egg curry’ (p.173). When he is posted
to America he relies on the Britishness that he has learned in London,
converting ‘ounces to grams’ and comparing ‘prices to things in England’
(p.175) as a survival strategy. His search for identity is further strained by his
arranged marriage, more or less en route to his new job in America, to a
woman he has never met. In America, his cultural conflict is manifest in his
refusal to eat ‘hamburgers or hot dogs’ (p.175), as the consumption of beef is
sacrilegious according to his Hindu beliefs.
The speaker is burdened with a fragmented sense of identity; constantly
pulled in opposite directions between Indian culture and the need to
assimilate in America. When he meets his centenarian landlady, Mrs Croft, he
is bewildered by her age and her repetitious phrases while admiring her
strength in surviving for so long. In contrast to his relationship with his own
mother, whose rejection of life had further exacerbated the speaker’s sense of
emotional isolation, through his fondness for Mrs Croft, and his admiration for
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her ability to accept the inevitable, he gradually learns that, although he is
‘bewildered by each mile [he has] traveled … each person [he has] known’
(p.198), life is a strange amalgam.
In contrast with the speaker, his wife Mala is able to maintain her identity
because she takes on the role of a traditional Indian wife. The speaker finds
their relationship strained, however – they were ‘strangers’ (p.192) – until
during a visit to Mrs Croft, who measures Mala through her own innate sense
of decorum rather than her exotic dissimilarities to the American ideal,
declares her to be ‘a perfect lady’ (p.195). The speaker sees only their
differences, whereas Mrs Croft appreciates Mala’s grace and charm.
The speaker’s ability to adjust is, Lahiri points out, a human adaptation. He
has discovered that the ability to feel at home no matter what country he lives
in comes only from having a strong sense of self. The ‘ambition that had first
hurled [him] across the world’ (p.197) is part of his ability to know himself and
to recognise that the strength he gains from his origins is the ideal foundation
on which to build a strong identity.
• Even though she is an Indian in India, is Boori Ma also seeking an
identity in her self-appointed occupation as a ‘real durwan’ (p.73)?
• Is her displacement the cause of her fragmented sense of
identity?
DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS
It is the ambiguity of the ending that leads to different interpretations in ‘A
Temporary Matter’ (pp.1–22). The marriage of the young couple, Shoba and
Shukumar, has fallen apart after the stillbirth of their son. As a result of this
tragedy, their previously happy relationship has become dysfunctional to the
extent that their marriage seems to be only ‘a temporary matter’ (p.1).
Shoba is unable to deal with her disappointment and grief at losing her baby,
and has projected her anger and frustration onto her husband because he
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was absent at the time of her labour. They have lost touch with one another in
their relationship, as Shoba silently blames Shukumar for the tragedy;
Shoba’s increasing workload serves as an outlet for her frustration and further
extends the marital discord. Like many mothers in her situation, she is unable
to understand that Shukumar is equally grief-stricken. She has become sloppy
in her appearance and has abandoned her traditional role as an Indian wife.
At the same time, Shukumar, ‘still a student at thirty-five’ (p.3), has
increasingly allowed himself to use the house as a kind of prison in his
despair at both the loss of the child and the breakdown of their marriage. He
feels helpless and lonely.
When the couple receive a notice that their electricity will be disconnected
every evening ‘for one hour’ (p.1), Shukumar makes an effort to create a
romantic ambience by using candles to illuminate their dinner. They begin to
reconnect in the darkness through confessions of ‘the little ways they’d hurt or
disappointed each other, and themselves’ (p.18). ‘Something happened when
the house was dark’ (p.19) and by the fourth night they were able, tentatively,
to rekindle their relationship.
Interpretation 1: The relationship ends
In ‘A Temporary Matter’, Lahiri presents a sad view of a marriage
destroyed by grief and misunderstanding.
The relationship ends when Shoba confesses that she had been ‘looking for
an apartment’ (p.21) and has now found one. She thought they had been
‘through enough’, that it was ‘nobody’s fault’ (p.21). Shukumar is both
‘relieved’ at the release and yet ‘sickened’ (p.21) that she had been playing a
game all along while knowing that their marriage was only ‘a temporary
matter’ (p.1).
Many reviewers have interpreted this as the ending of the marriage, but the
story’s last pages suggest a quite different interpretation.
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Interpretation 2: The relationship continues
‘A Temporary Matter’ is a narrative about the ability of a relationship to
survive overwhelming grief and despair.
Shoba’s confession leads to a further revelation by Shukumar. Both Shoba
and her mother had assumed Shukumar to be a heartless, absent father;
instead, however, he had ‘arrived early enough to see their baby, and to hold
him before they cremated him’ (p.22). The poignancy of the situation is
revealed when he tells his wife that the baby was a boy and describes him for
the grieving mother. He says that he had not told her because she had
wanted the sex of the baby to be a ‘mystery’ (p.21). Now in their shared grief
they ‘wept together, for the things they now knew’ (p.22). Thus, their
estrangement is over and they are able to regard their rift as ‘a temporary
matter’.
This interpretation is a much more emotionally satisfying ending. The motif of
the ‘temporary matter’ means that it is their separation, and not their marriage,
that is temporary. This is reinforced by Shoba’s declaration that she ‘needed
some time alone’ (p.21), not that she wants a termination of their relationship.
Shukumar’s simple declaration implies that this will not now be necessary.
If we view the stories as a complete entity, as we must, we can conclude that
the tenor of the work is not as bleak as the first interpretation suggests.
Although Lahiri quite often leaves us to make our own conclusions, her vision
is generally a positive one.
ESSAY TOPICS
1. ‘Because “The Third and Final Continent” has a first-person narrator, we
have a limited understanding of other characters.’ Do you agree?
2. ‘The endings of Lahiri’s stories are often ambiguous, and their resolutions
are left entirely to the imagination of the reader.’ Do you agree?
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3. ‘The loneliness suffered by Lahiri’s recent immigrants creates inhibitions
that make cultural assimilation difficult.’ Discuss.
4. ‘Lahiri shows that miscommunication and unexpressed feelings lead to
misunderstanding and cultural displacement.’ Discuss.
5. ‘The stories in Interpreter of Maladies demonstrate that although an
immigrant’s mores are shaped by the past, tolerance and compassion are
universal values that must be learned.’ Discuss.
6. How does Lahiri show the values that are important in a relationship?
7. ‘Lahiri shows the vulnerability of people who struggle against a sense of
being outsiders.’ Discuss.
8. At Konarak, the temple “had filled with rubble long ago”.
‘For Lahiri’s characters, the symbols of once-important spiritual principles
have disappeared, leaving them with diminished values.’ Do you agree?
9. A sense of community is evident in Lahiri’s stories. What maintains that
sense and what disrupts it?
10. ‘Lahiri shows that our sense of identity does not relate to time or place but
stems from the strength we gain from our ability to adapt.’ Discuss.
Analysing a sample question
‘Because “The Third and Final Continent” has a first-person narrator, we
have a limited understanding of other characters.’ Do you agree?
• Decide whether you agree with the topic. Look at what the
question is asking for, such as an examination of the first-person
narrative structure.
• Frame your main contention.
• Compare and contrast the narrator as a character with other
characters, such as Mrs Croft and Mala.
• Open the first paragraph with a good topic sentence that sets out
your agreement/disagreement with the topic.
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• Explore what we know about the narrator. Illustrate your main
points with short quotes from the text.
• Compare and contrast different characters in subsequent
paragraphs.
• Show that what we know about other characters is filtered through
the narrator’s perspective.
• Point out what the narrator learns from the other characters.
• Show how Lahiri, through the narrator, deals with the immigrant
experience and compare it with the narrative of Mrs Croft: what is
her role?
• Reiterate the terms of the topic throughout to show that you
understand the question and that your discussion is applicable.
The challenge in answering this topic is to show how well you know the text
and how well you understand the point of view Lahiri is projecting through the
narrator. Remember your opinion must be supported by evidence from the
text. Your introduction and conclusion ought to provide a frame for your
discussion. Your conclusion should restate your main contention and sum up
your main points.
THE TEXT
Lahiri, Jhumpa 2000, Interpreter of Maladies, Flamingo, HarperCollins.
FURTHER READING
Chotiner, Isaac 2008, ‘Interview with Lahiri’, The Atlantic Online, 18 March.